The Indiana Pacers Show Patience in Beating the Miami Heat

Against the Miami Heat’s aggressive defensive rotations, offenses must be patient and precise when they find themselves with what seems like an advantage. With the shot clock running down, Heat opponents can end up forcing semi-contested shots when a better shot is only a pass away. On Monday night, the Indiana Pacers showed the patience and unselfishness required to beat Miami’s rotating defense. Let’s take a look at a couple examples.

On this first play, Danny Granger catches the ball with Lebron James on his hip. Granger’s drive attracts the Miami help defense, and Darren Collison is the open man. Collison is only open for a moment, as Dwyane Wade rotates to defend. Collison swings the ball to Paul George, who has Mario Chalmers closing down on him. George swings it back to the man who started the play, Danny Granger, who finds himself with enough space to get off a shot (even though it takes him a moment to decide on it).

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On this play, Granger again attracts a double team as he comes off a screen to receive the ball. He quickly kicks it to the open man, David West. Joel Anthony closes out, West skips it to Paul George, who swings it to the open Darren Collison.

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If any of the Pacers took the semi-open shot off of the first or second pass, one couldn’t really blame them; those can look like pretty good shots. But give credit to Indiana for continuing to swing the ball to find the wide open shot, even when the shot clock was winding down.